Chapter 5 Teams

Objectives Recognizing the need for teams Identifying elements of successful teams Constructing the team

Recognizing the Need for Teams American business has embraced the concept of teams in a big way. Flatter organizations have resulted in teams whose members are cross-trained (trained in a variety of areas) and assigned to more than one project or set of tasks (fig 5-1, page 90). Management teams: heads of different departments do strategic planning. Cross-functional teams: representatives of design and development for individual components to produce complex systems. Self-directed work teams: employees grouped by complementary skills. Project teams: groups of all necessary skill sets and functional areas brought together for a specific task or operation.

Identifying Elements of Successful Teams The most successful teams have the following characteristics: Each member shares and supports the vision and goals of the team. Each member takes responsibility for both the task needs and the work relationship needs of the team. Each member understands and is able to respond to the factors, internal and external, that impact the team’s potential for success. Each member possesses the skill to manage hi/her own parts of the project and to support other’s contribution. Each member demonstrates superior skill in workplace interpersonal communications. To have a good team it takes: knowledge, skill, attitude, intimacy, and supportive organizational culture.

Knowledge Knowledge is often missing in low performing teams. Each team member must know: what the goal is, what his or her role in the completion of the goal is, and how internal or external constraints affect the process. Team members should also have knowledge of: possible obstacles to the success of the project and resources available to overcome these obstacles, external factors affecting the business they are in such as materials availability or competitors innovations, and internal constraints imposed by budgets, personnel, processes, and policies. With these conditions and their effects on the outcomes clearly understood, teams are equipped to be proactive in heading off problems.

Skills & Attitude Skills: can be divided into two major categories: technical (project-task related) and interpersonal. Team skills for constructive group interactions include: goal setting, planning, conflict resolution, facilitation, problem solving, peer review, offering feedback, leadership in teams, and supportive communication. Attitude: To be motivated to work together team members must have an attitude that: the goal of the team is in the best interest of the company and their own professional well being, the project is doable with the skills and materials available, and each team member needs to respect every other team member’s ability to contribute. The team leader is responsible for nurturing this attitude.

Intimacy & Supportive Organizational Climate Intimacy: High stress situations such as wars and natural disasters create close relationships that can bond people for life. When groups develop personal connections in addition to professional relationship they reach the highest levels of achievement – increased employee loyalty, and higher satisfaction with work. Supportive Organizational Climate: Ways organizations can support teams are: designate a ranking person to mentor the team in early stages, provide funding for and set a value on training, facilitate group gatherings with availability of meeting rooms and a budget for food functions for the team, funnel critical strategic information to the team to assist in their planning, release or assign authority for decision making as much as possible to the team, and be aware of the achievements of the team and celebrate them.

Constructing the Team Team construction responsibility falls to the project manager, who must either secure training and support or provide them personally: 1. Carefully analyze the task and determine both the skill set and work styles required for a complementary and synergistic mix. 2. Indoctrinate each team member in the vision and goals of the team as well as the expected contribution of each. 3. Provide the necessary skill training and process tools (software etc.) 4. Guide the team through the initial formation stages including rules and operating guidelines development as well as the role and task definition for each member. 5. Monitor progress to ensure continued team cohesiveness and movement towards goals. 6. Note and celebrate with the team success along the way. 7. At the time of project end, help team members transition out of old team relationships and into new ones.

Level A: The Design Project managers who can select and construct teams that are effective and that run smoothly are highly valued in industry. 1. Clearly analyze the task and develop accurate job descriptions and human resource needs. 2. Choose project team members on the basis of skills, professional team attributes, and problem solving ability. 3. Introduce team members to the vision of the project and each other. Acquaint members with each others knowledge and operating style preferences.

Level B – The Foundation Successful teams take time in the early stages to lay groundwork to operate smoothly. What approaches to communication will be used (e.g. check E-mail daily). The team should be encouraged to determine its own needs.

Level C – The Natural Disaster Information withholding, territoriality, and unwillingness to share ideas. Sniping or open clashes during meetings. Silence, grumbling, or negativity. Inability to reach agreement on important issues. Lack of enthusiasm in problem solving sessions. Marked decrease in productivity.

Level D – The Fabrication Team members at this stage are working together towards the goals originally set. Groupthink: a pattern of thought among group members characterized by mutual admiration at the expense of critical thinking and continuous improvement. We become complacent and cease to seek out growth opportunities when we have become good at something.

Level E – The Inspection and Sign Off Teams sometimes have so much buy-in or commitment to the projects that they have a hard time closing the books. Thus a passage ceremony, to mark the end of a journey, and the beginning of the next, will help the team members mourn (if necessary) and separate from what they have done for a long time.

Summary Flatter organizations have resulted in teams whose members are cross-trained (trained in a variety of areas) and assigned to more than one project or set of tasks. To have a good team it takes: knowledge, skill, attitude, intimacy, and supportive organizational culture. Each team member must know: what the goal is, what his or her role in the completion of the goal is, and how internal or external constraints affect the process. Choose project team members on the basis of skills, professional team attributes, and problem solving ability.

Home Work 1. Flatter organizations resulted in what type of teams? 2. What does it take to have a good team? 3. What must each team member know? 4. How does a project leader choose project team members?